Multi-agent simulation of collective self-consumption: Impacts of storage systems and large-scale energy exchanges

Collective self-consumption (CSC) is often presented as an approach for better energy management. This paper proposes a multi-agent and multi-level model to analyze the impact of CSC in the residential sec-tor. It considers human activity as the core of electricity consumption in the household. In addition to a co-simulation between a multi-agent model of human activity and a thermal model, we added a layer to simulate interactions within an association of households, together with collective means of production and storage. This model was used to perform various studies. First, CSC configurations with individual and collective storage were simulated. The results highlight the impact of individual and collective means of storage on the way energy is consumed, exchanged, charged or discharged in the group of households and within each household. Finally, a large structure including energy exchanges between a set of house-holds (neighborhood) forming a CSC was modeled. The results clearly show the impact of energy exchange between neighborhoods on the overall CSC. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.